Greed
by Supreme King of Awesome
Summary: She was far too ambitious. She had a chance to avoid dying. She didn't take it.


**Another upload? So soon? What is this madness!? Well, I'm trying to make up for the recent decline in my number of uploads. I've just been a bit busy with… stuff. And life. Life is also a thing. I'm not apologizing, really, just trying to fill in the gaps, so to speak. Anyway, enjoy this whatever thing I've made. Whatever things are my specialty, you know.**

What had possessed her to do something so stupid? She had always been so careful, especially in her collaborations with Marluxia. She'd made sure that her information on the situation had been correct.Or at least, so she had thought.

She didn't expect the boy's friends to return, and when they had turned back into cards she felt a little relieved. That is, until she remembered that she had just pissed him off. That little angry look to his eyes was almost cute, like the rage of a puppy. Of course, at the moment this "puppy" wanted nothing more than her dead so dwelling on the look would be detrimental to her health.

It had gone wrong so fast. She'd been listening to Marluxia going on about what Xemnas had been reporting to him about Roxas and Xion. When Roxas was created, he took about half of Sora's power with him. The existence of Xion was slowly draining both Roxas and Sora of power, like a divergence to a river, streaming their strength into her. This coupled with how Sora was gradually losing his memory made it so that he should have been easy prey.

"_GHKT!_"

Larxene gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. Showing weakness would surely mean death. She was bleeding. Heavily. The weapon was both blunt and bladed, so not only did that last blow cut into her side and torn away a bit of her cloak, it also broke a rib, maybe two. At the moment she was in a great deal of pain and couldn't afford a proper examination. Where had that speed come from? There was no one in the entire Organization that could even dream of matching her for speed. His last attack should have been impossible.

The plan was that Sora was to become a metaphorical nuke to be used on the loyalists in the Organization. Getting rid of them would make it all the easier to overthrow Xemnas. Every factor was taken into account, even the wildcard, Roxas. Recruiting Axel was the next step. They were certain that if they had Axel on their side, Roxas would follow. With the power of two Keyblade wielders on their side? They would be unstoppable. On the off chance that Roxas did not comply, they would have Sora deal with him, and Xion would be nothing more than a minor annoyance. Their deaths would have served to strengthen their main weapon anyway.

Then there was the other one. Riku. He was currently battling his way through the lower areas of the castle. If he knew that Sora was fighting for a cause that he truly believed was righteous, there was no way he wouldn't join their forces. Riku, who was Sora's near equal. Sora and Riku, whose power separately rivaled that of gods, and even death itself… Who wouldn't have been intoxicated by the prospect?

Larxene was desperate. He was closing in fast, forgoing the cards of his friends in favor of a quick finish. She had run out of time, and was low on options. Scanning the area while flying backwards, she looked to the ceiling and found some inspiration. She couldn't peg him with lightning, the boy was far too fast. Retaliation wasn't an option either, since after becoming enraged, it was as if his durability had increased tenfold. He wouldn't even flinch. Larxene did the one thing she could have.

"FLASH!"

"What the!?"

The area was blanketed with white, blinding light emanating from nowhere. When the air was clear, Sora looked around in confusion. Larxene was nowhere to be seen. He looked to the ground and saw the card she had used, torn and burning. She must have expounded a great deal of magic to be able to disorient him to that degree.

Meanwhile, Larxene was plastered against the ceiling, taking fast, silent breaths as she applied her last potion to the wound she had taken earlier. The concoction took effect immediately, and a cool relief spread through her body. She gazed down to her still dazed opponent. It had been a risky move using all of her energy at once to cast that spell. But she had no alternative in the matter; otherwise he would have seen her launch herself to the ceiling and followed.

They had planned perfectly. Force Namine into twisting Sora's memories, recruit Axel, weaponize Sora, destroy Castle Oblivion's loyalists, recruit Riku, and with their small but undefeatable army, take over what was left of the Organization, picking up Roxas on the way if possible. The one thing that could have gone wrong went wrong. The only contingency that they had not accounted for was the one that was reality, she realized now that it was too late.

Xemnas had known of the plans all along.

He had anticipated every single event that would transpire and sent his own "nuke" into the ranks of the separatists. He informed Axel that there were traitors among the C.O. team, and allowed the harlequin to have his fun. Yes, only too late did it occur to her that he had agreed all too easily to abandon his allies in the Organization. He had played them all, and enjoyed himself while he did it. Axel had stayed carefully on the outside of the conflict for the most part, aside from a few assignments to keep up appearances. He then allowed Namine to escape, to find her would-be savior and set the next phase of his plan into action. Larxene knew now that she was no match for the Keyblade wielder, that instead of eliminating Larxene himself, Axel decided to turn her own weapon against her. It worked.

There was one more technique she could attempt. A crazy idea, but it might perform just well enough to overwhelm him. "Okay," she whispered to herself, "last chance."

Larxene felt a drop in power when the particles appeared and began to take shape. They took a bit less than half of her strength to create a new body. In a few seconds she was staring at herself with mock determination. The multiform technique was a success. They both glared down at the boy, who was still unaware of what had just transpired. The two readied their attack, propping their feet against the ceiling in a crouched position, preparing to spring.

3… 2… 1.

They both sprang downward at lightning speed, knives at the ready, sure of their target and with intent to kill-

And suddenly he was no longer there. The Larxenes landed and made for another motion, only for the clone to be stopped short before she could move, giving out a short exclamation of shock as her cloak was being hung up by the hood. Larxene looked behind her clone and saw that the boy was holding onto her hood with his left hand, without paying either of them much attention. The clone squirmed in vain, trying to escape his iron grip and failing to even budge the boy in the slightest. Larxene took a step back, horrified by her vision of this boy. For a split second, as his gaze turned toward his prey and his eyes were filled with malice, in his place she saw the Keyblade wielder as the legends spoke of them: dark, powerful, forces of nature. She saw a true god of death.

When the struggles of the clone ceased to be amusing, the boy yanked the clone over his head, flipping her in the process despite her cry of utter terror, and brought her down with a sickening crunch. On her head.

The clone dissipated in a cloud of sparks, Larxene wondering what had just happened. Obviously, he had known where she was the entire time, but since when could he teleport, and why had he not done so earlier?

No matter. Larxene decided that it was time to end this. She forsook all caution and charged the boy with a shout of battle. Apparently he had other plans.

He held no more interest in the battle. Sora nonchalantly lifted his hand and said one word, almost absentmindedly.

"Stop."

An unbearable pain detonated in her torso as she rocketed backward at a breakneck speed. She crashed into the door to the next room and bounced back down to the floor.

Larxene tried to stand, but she could not seem to make it to her full height. She knew without having to check that her ribcage was completely shattered, her lungs punctured. There was no way she could walk away like this, but she knew that Marluxia would be coming for her any minute.

Things were going in slow motion, though she understood that nothing had changed. Her sense of perception exceeded what her eyes and ears were grasping. Everything was the same. Everything was different.

She looked up and saw Sora standing with his fist extended, as if he had punched her, but how? She hadn't seen this happen, and how could one punch do so much damage? It then occurred to her that she had picked a fight with the boy who had bested Hercules.

She had brought this on herself. She had just slapped the current object of Sora's affections, challenged her honor, and basically said that everything that the boy had gone through up until this point had no meaning. Why? Why couldn't she just take a win? Larxene had a second life after her premature death. She had friends, work, and an eternity to enjoy everything life had to offer. What was wrong with what she had? She didn't need more, this she knew now. She had wasted the second life that had been given to her. And now she was dying.

She had seen Nobodies die before. Sometimes it looked painful. Sometimes they did not seem to notice. She recalled the death of the previous number 13, a boy that had been inducted around the same time as her. No one had the slightest idea of what had happened. He had woken up and walked into the kitchen, preparing his breakfast so that he wouldn't fall asleep during his mission. Zodex, was his name. He was always sleeping, so it made sense that he had missed the gaping hole that had appeared in his throat after his last assignment. The other members had stared at him in shock, causing Zodex to raise an eyebrow, even as the particles of darkness began to envelope him. He'd tried to say something, ask a question maybe, then grabbed at his neck when he realized he couldn't. By that point, the particles were not just his essence, they were Zodex himself. A few seconds later, with another puzzled look at his comrades, Zodex faded from nonexistence.

Larxene had often wondered what it would feel like to die again. She felt… tingly. All over.

She could see the particles enveloping her, and she began to panic. No, it couldn't be! She was too important, she'd had too many plans! Dying would screw it all up. Larxene looked to Namine and the Replica, then to Sora, standing there uncaring, just watching her fade away. Why didn't he help her? What had she done? Everyone had always described the boy as a happy fool. _They_ were the fools. She was dying, and he knew it, understood completely what was happening. He didn't lift a finger to help her. He'd probably only stayed to make sure she was dead.

What about Marluxia? Where was he? Why didn't he come and save her from this monster? Wait… what just happened? Larxene thought she said something, but could not for the life of her remember what it was.

There was a flash of anger, and then peace. Her solace in this? That the boy still thought that Axel was the enemy.

The cloud grew in intensity, completely obscuring her view of the Sora, and at this point she accepted what was to come. This was her fault. But she had no true regrets. Larxene died because she was a bitch. And being a bitch was what she had been best at.

**Larxene has faded** -


End file.
